Magazine

Getting the lead out

Oladele Ogunseitan picks up a cell phone and tosses it into a small wood chipper in his UC Irvine lab. Is he conducting a wacky experiment? Overreacting to one too many dropped calls? Actually, Ogunseitan grinds up old phones for a purely scientific cause: He’s studying toxic electronic waste. Chair of the population health & […]

A student's drawing of common allergy triggers

Bridging the healthcare divide

Most nurses see patients in health clinics, hospitals and offices, but Jill Berg is different. She makes house calls. Berg consults with people who have asthma and other chronic pulmonary conditions in their homes, churches and schools, often venturing into L.A.’s toughest neighborhoods. Her mission: to help them breathe easier. “I love getting out there […]

Yellowthroat warbler

Nature’s steward

For William Bretz, there’s no such thing as just another day at the office. Instead of working behind a desk, he’s usually behind the wheel of a mud-splattered SUV, making the rounds at the San Joaquin Freshwater Marsh Reserve. On this bright December morning, rolling along an earthen dike, he encounters a flock of Canada […]

Cactus Wren

For the birds

Kristine Preston steps softly onto UC Irvine’s Ecological Preserve, 62 acres of cheerful wildflowers and sweet-smelling sage scrub tucked above University Hills. “We had a pair of birds using this plant two days ago, which is just incredible,” she whispers, pointing to a large prickly pear cactus. The 40-year-old plant is one of a whole […]

Ian Parker Photo

Going to extremes

Few people could match the intensity and perseverance of UC Irvine neurobiologist Ian Parker. Maybe they’re not passionate enough about photography to lie in puddles, drive thousands of miles, scale sheer cliffs, sleep outside in the cold, fight altitude sickness and rise hours before the sun. Maybe they’re not so bent on studying cells that […]

Dr. Ralph Clayman

Patient advocate

Levity, gossip and idle chitchat have no place in Dr. Ralph Clayman’s operating room. The pioneer in minimally invasive surgery once asked a gabby colleague to leave in the middle of an operation because the chatterbox lacked focus. Clayman, a urologist so dedicated he gives his home phone number to patients, makes no apologies for […]

Alison Plott

Lessons in laughter

Each stroke of white makeup transforms a face. Rather than conceal, it reveals. The arch of a painted eyebrow, the exaggerated smile or frown, say more than a monologue. And the metamorphosis isn’t limited to the actor; it’s in the audience’s mind as well. Enter Eli Simon’s world, where clowning is an art. “Clowning is […]

Clinical nurse Brent Wong with premature infant

Healing the tiniest patients

When Brent Wong graduated in June with UC Irvine’s first nursing science class, he didn’t have to go far to land a job. Wong works as a nurse in the neonatal intensive care unit at UC Irvine Douglas Hospital, and he’s already making a big difference in the lives of its tiniest patients. Wong is one […]

Sarah Bana

Leading by example

Sarah Bana always knew what she wanted to be when she grew up: an FBI agent. “I’d read a lot of Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mysteries, and I wanted to save the world,” she says. She still does, although she’s going about it in a different way. A fourth-year quantitative economics major at UC […]

Kei Akagi

Master of improvisation

Kei Akagi was 24 and pursuing a doctorate in philosophy at UC Santa Barbara when he decided music was his true calling. It was 2 a.m., he’d just finished performing with his jazz band, and he suddenly realized he hadn’t done any work on a graduate presentation due the next day. “I sat down in […]